ppl. a. [UN-1 8 b, c. Cf. MDu. ongesocht (Du. ongezocht), MHG. ungesuochet (G. ungesucht), Da. usøgt, Sw. osökt.]
1. Not searched out or sought after; not sought or asked for.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 324. A wummon þet haueð forloren hire nelde … secheð hine anonriht,… and God forloren uor sunne schal liggen unsouht fulle seoue dawes.
1374. Chaucer, Troylus, I. 809. Vnknowe vnkyst and lost þat is vn-sought.
a. 1395. Hylton, Scala Perf., II. xiv. (W. de W., 1494). Vnresonably he werkith þat leuith the souereyn gode … vnsought and vnloued.
a. 1470. Gregory, Chron., in Hist. Coll. Cit. Lond. (Camden), 192. They lefte noo thynge unsoffethe, and they serchyd all that nyght.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 103. A thyng discended from heauen, of theim vnsought, vnimagined and not deuised.
1576. Gascoigne, Kenelworth Castle, Wks. 1910, II. 92. Nothing shall rest unsought, That may bring pleasure to your mind.
1634. Milton, Comus, 732. The Sea o’refraught would swell, and th’ unsought diamonds Would so emblaze the forhead of the Deep,… that [etc.].
1688. T. Flatman, Lines to Abp. Sancroft, 1. When I Your unsought Glories view’d,… some great thing to Write I meant.
c. 1708. Fenton, First Fit of Gout, 19. Whence comes this unsought honour unto me?
1751. Warburton, Pope’s Wks., IX. 247. To the issue of that unasked and unsought compliment these words allude.
1837. Lockhart, Scott, IV. i. 13. This novel seems to me to possess … a kind of simple unsought charm.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., II. iii. 44. How often relief has come at the moment of extremity, in forms strangely unsought.
b. Not obtained by search or effort. Freq. in loose const.: Without being sought for; without search.
c. 1350. Ipomadon, 6519. Nowe I se vnsoughte, My travayle hedyr is all in vayne!
c. 1368. Chaucer, Compl. Pite, 104. What maner thinge may encrese my wo That haue I redy vnsoghte euyr where.
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 798. Bot the knight thar fand thai noght; Than was thar mekil sorow unsoght.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., III. 97. In erth I se right noght Bot syn that is vnsoght.
a. 1500[?]. Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.), 206. Endles paine muste I have unsoughte To my rewarde.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., VI. iv. 28. Oftimes … sorrowes of the mynd Find remedie vnsought, which seeking cannot fynd.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., III. i. 163. Loue sought, is good: but giuen vnsought, is better.
1671. Milton, P. R., II. 59. Thus they out of their plaints new hope resume To find whom at the first they found unsought.
1725. Ramsay, Gentl. Sheph., III. ii. That’s kind unsought.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 288. What pearl is it … which the poor … Seek and obtain, and often find unsought?
1817. Scott, Harold, Introd. 55. Oft at such season, too, will rhymes unsought Arrange themselves in some romantic lay.
1855. Poultry Chron., III. 338/2. The greatest gain will often, unsought and unwished, attend the first-class.
c. With advs., esp. for.
1611. Florio, Inesplorato, unsought out.
1622. Wither, Philarete, M 3 b. Those sad Straines … Which you composd, when greatest discontent Vnsought-for helpe to your Inuention lent.
1650. Cromwell, Lett., 12 Sept. (Carlyle). Which we earnestly desire may not be laid aside unsought after.
1727. [Dorrington], P. Quarll (1816), 26. I had him … by mere accident, unexpected, and unsought for.
1816. Wilson, City of Plague, III. ii. 137. Unsought-for bliss Coming … from all the points of heaven.
1863. H. Cox, Instit., I. x. 249. This arrangement … at least was unsought for by him.
2. † a. Unassailed. Obs. rare.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2440. He luued hir wil mare þan are, For wirscipp þat sco did him win, And sco vosoght saccles o sin.
c. 1400. Sowdone Bab., 2081. Ye bene biseged in this toure … Charles wole not leve you vnsought.
b. Unasked; without being requested.
a. 1500. Chaucer’s Dreme, in C’s Wks. (1598), 359/1. So verily, ech thing vnsought, He said as he had knowne my thought.
1613. Hieron, Bridegroome, 18. Christ leadeth his Church with benefits, and that vnsought to.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Sat. Quack, Wks. 1720, I. 71. Death, tho’ unsought, waits on thy murd’ring Quill.
1873. Symonds, Grk. Poets, xi. 392. Then on my lyre, unasked, unsought, there flew A grasshopper.
1878. B. Taylor, Deukalion, I. vi. 49. Ere ye approach me, I shine unsought.
3. Unexamined, unexplored.
c. 1375. Cursor M., 26637 (Fairf.). Hit faris of shrift as dos of wound Þat lange vnsoȝt is to þe grounde.
1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 48. I haue noght left vnsoght no stede no temple whare Philosophers vsyd to wryte.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 4450. And ther ys no corner vnsouht, But that I go to euery place.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., I. i. 136. Loth to leaue vnsought Or that, or any place that harbours men.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, XV. xxvii. So that this mighty sea is yet unsought, Where thousand isles and kingdoms lie unknown.
1625. Quarles, Sion’s Sonn., xv. 6. Thus … no place I left unsought, No eare vnask’d.
4. Not resorted to; untried.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, IV. (Arb.), 109. No meane vnattempted, ne vnsoght … leauing.
1626. Chas. I., in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), I. 264. We have left no means unsought that might truly enable us to these great works.
1708. Rowe, Royal Convert, III. i. Is there a Remedy in human Wisdom, My Mind has left unsought, to help this Evil?
